TERRY JONES: Winner of 2017 Canadian Derby finally determined

Jockey Rico Walcott on Chief Know It All came up the middle to win at the 88th running of the Canadian Derby at Northlands park in Edmonton on Saturday Aug. 19, 2017.

And the winner of the 2017 Canadian Derby is …

It was a surreal, unseemly, screwy sort of scene at Century Mile Wednesday morning as the 88th Canadian Derby became official five days before the running of the 90th edition of the race.

There they were, the horsemen collected together for the draw for post positions for the first running of the race at the new mile-long track and begin the discussion about who will win Sunday’s race when they were instead being asked to react to the breaking news.

The results of the Alberta Queen’s Bench court case to decide the 88th Canadian Derby race won in real time by Chief Know It All at Northlands Park had been made official. Again.

And the winner of the wilted daisies is … Double Bear!

Chief Know It All trainer Robertino Diodoro, the most outspoken person involved in the saga prior to this verdict, was not at the draw.

“I think Robertino needs time to calm down,” said Clayton Weist, an owner of Chief Know It All, last years winner Sky Promise and the two horses Diodoro shipped here for this year’s race.

Weist was in the room at the draw and said the court ruling, which this time ruled Chief Know It All second and Trapper John third, spoi led the mood of the day.

“It’s so disappointing. I’m here to get excited for this year’s race and this just put a black cloud over it. It’s really too bad.”

What a mess. It even has a carryover on Sunday’s race where Chief Know It All trainer Diodoro and jockey Rico Walcott are no longer both going for three Canadian Derby wins in a row. Now it’s two. Walcott goes from being a five-time Derby winner to a four-time winner and Diodoro from a four-time winner to a two-time winner.

Chief Know It All, ridden by Walcott and trained by Diorodo, was originally declared the winner despite a complaint from the owner of another horse it had allegedly fouled.

At the track, while the Canadian Derby fans held all tickets until the result had been made official, the stewards decided the incident involving Chief Know It All didn’t impact the race and that it was essentially a non event.

But, whoa Nellie!

Ten months later the Horse Racing Appeal Tribunal disqualified Chief Know It All and named Double Bear and Trooper John as co-winners. Double Bear and Trooper John had finished in a dead heat for second.

The Tribunal ruled Chief Know It All made contact with another horse and altered the outcome of the race.

But, hold your horses.

Immediately following the Tribunal ruling, trainer Diodoro announced that the race wasn’t over.

“It’s still a long ways from over. If they want to make a fool of horse racing then we’ll just drag it on. We’ll fight it until there’s no money left except what goes to the lawyers.

“It’s the biggest joke there is. To take this long is a complete embarrassment to horse racing. They wonder why horse racing is in the toilet in Alberta and it’s because of stupid stuff like this. It’s pretty pathetic.”

That was mild compared to the reaction from one of his owners, Tim Rollingson, on the phone to me from his dentist office in Lethbridge.

“Horse Racing Alberta is a gong show,” he began.

“Having gone through the Tribunal process, it’s laughable. The fact that two individuals that had no experience in horse racing at all can overturn a unified stewards decision with decades of experience is beyond comprehension.

“Now having said that, I understand why Sycamore Stables did what they did,” he said of the Double Bear camp appeal. “The tribunal process is so bad that they didn’t have a five per cent chance of winning but once we got in there it was 50-50.

“If I still ran horses in Alberta, I would appeal every race that I could because you literally have a 50-50 chance of winning anything that goes on in there.

“It’s such a joke. I used to run 22 horses in Alberta and I’ve eliminated all my horses from Alberta. We do have one in the Canadian Derby in Miltontown,” he said of the Diodoro-trained horse that will be ridden by local jockey Walcott. “I did not want to go in it. I did not want to participate but I’m not the only owner on the horse. I’m not even going to the race.

“Me and several owners like me have basically boycotted Alberta because of it. This fight is going to go on. It’s not stopping here,” he said of taking it to a higher court. “There’s no way we’re going to lay down at this point and allow bad process to dictate what has taken place. Horse Racing Alberta has put this all in a situation that if this is allowed to stand steward’s decisions are powerless and meaningless. One of the laughable things involved with is that year’s Derby winner was to get $90000 and the Tribunal lawyers have already billed $115,000 to themselves.”

Trooper John trainer Tim Rycroft sounded more depressed than anything when contacted.

“I can’t even wrap my mind around it. It’s been such a complete (expletive) joke anyway. It’s been a schmozelle with a bunch of people deciding our fate that know nothing about horse racing.

“How do you split up a photo finish now? Why even have a photo finish? Why even have a wire? Why have anything?

“Why must Alberta keep being the joke of the racing world? Why does this keep happening in Alberta? I’m just really discouraged with racing in Alberta.”

It was mid-afternoon when Diodoro returned the call.

“The way the whole thing has been handled all along, it’s been a complete farce,” said the local product who had horses finish first in four Canadian Derby races but now trains out of Canterbury Downs in Minnesota.

“We’re all pretty disappointed. Of course we’ll take the next step in the legal process. It’s a long way from being over.

“First of all the appeal thing should be thrown right in the garbage. We have so many different people sour about it. There are going to be twice as many appeals now, which doesn’t do racing any good, especially in Alberta.

“If a goal is disallowed in hockey, they don’t go to a board three weeks later, have a hearing and have guys on a tribunal that have absolutely nothing to do with hockey or any knowledge about the game.

“It’s the image of the sport, people’s livelihood and reputation and it’s being decided by people who don’t know anything about horse racing on the Tribunal. It’s an absolute embarrassment.”

It’s difficult to deny that a horse race being decided in a court room two years after the race has been run isn’t insane much less a horse race being decided in a court of law in the first place.